Shouldn’t one
feel angry and depressed when Allah’s commands are being violated? Everyone
says that we should ignore the situation since this is a matter for Allah to
decide. For instance, if music is being played in the house, gossiping on
the telephone, roaming around without hijāb, carelessness in prayers etc,
shouldn’t we be upset? One of my family members says one should concentrate
on making people happy because that is the most important thing and the rest
is secondary.

Answer:

It is but natural
that a believer feel sadness when he see that the commandments of his dear
Allah being violated. This indeed exhibits that the roots of his faith
stretch deep within his soul. However, it is not appropriate to be cross and
venomous to those who transgress the boundaries set by the Almighty because
it will lead them further away from Allah and deliver them completely to the
hands of Satan. In a nutshell, though it is very desirable that a believer
feel torn inside upon witnessing the violation of Allah’s commands, this
should only induce him to be more patient and humble and think profoundly
about how he can improve his strategy to exhort his fellows to the right
path.

We need to know that Allah
has only asked of us to convey what we perceive to be right and righteous.
He has nowhere commanded us to forcefully impose the instructions of Allah
over our siblings or friends. There lies only a slight difference, in this
regard, with the person who stands in a position of authority. For instance,
a father is required to ensure that his children act in accordance with
religious instructions and his wife complies with the Sharī‘ah. However, a
believer, in this case too, cannot go beyond the limits endorsed by sense
and reason so as to beat his children and wife. Allah indeed has ordered all
of us to be very patient and follow a thought-out strategy while
disseminating the message of Allah. The Holy Qur’ān reads:

Call them to the path of
your Lord with wisdom and words of good advice, and reason with them in the
best way possible. Your Lord surely knows those who stray from His path, and
He knows those who are guided to the right way. (16:125)

Another fact that I would
like to place before you is that ‘the exhorter to the right path’ needs to
know what are the limits set by the Almighty. In other words, he must be
very clear about the Sharī‘ah (law) given to us by the Creator. It will help
him present the stance of the Sharī‘ah more explicitly and vividly; and thus
avoid unnecessary arguments that arise because of intermingling the Sharī‘ah
with either the specific tastes of people or the spirit targeted to be
achieved by following the directives of the Sharī‘ah. For instance, it is
clear from the fundamental sources of Islam, the Holy Qur’ān and the Sunnah,
that music has not been prohibited by Allah and His Messenger (sws). It is
however an established fact that Islam has explicitly stated that man had
better not spoil his inner purification or he will not be able to enter
Paradise (91:9-10). So, the strategy that a believer needs to adopt to
tackle the case of music is that he, instead of branding music in its
entirety as unlawful, should present before the exhorted that he would be
questioned on the Day of Judgment if ever he listened to music that involves
immoral expressions and gestures and, as a result, affects his inner
purification. I believe this way of preaching will be more fruitful because
it leaves the burden of decision over the exhorted. Consequently, he decides
more responsibly between what music he must listen to and what not.